Good sources of free music?

General Forums Off-topic Chat
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What are your top choices for place to get free music for videos?

– What I Seek –

  • Preferably established well known sites.
  • Treats the artists honestly. Not cheating them, stealing their music, etc.
  • Variety of artists
  • Variety of styles
  • Can find artist’s own sites
  • CC or public domain licensing
  • Option to buy

I mostly got music to use in videos from filmmusic.io. There was a variety of styles and artists there and pretty good ones. Now, well, it has gone crazy. Changing every 10 seconds, only the site owner’s music … not the place for me anymore.

I’ll look at https://pixabay.com/music/ and https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ to find music but, from sites like that, I only to go to the artist’s own place to get it.

I like Scott Buckley. Especially for epic and cinematic stuff.

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Hi there! I know this thread is old, but I figured it’s better to reply here than start a new one.

Most of my Creative Commons / public domain music comes from OpenGameArt (https://opengameart.org/). I’m also active there as a DJ/producer — you can listen to my work here: https://audio.pepemoss.com/channels/mixes
All of my mixes and productions are released under Creative Commons. The specific license for each track is listed in its description.

I’m sharing this both to offer my music to anyone who might want to use it in their projects and to ask for fitting Blender animations or visuals to pair with the tracks — nothing would make me happier than seeing amazing productions that complement the music.

I hope you find this useful!

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university and military orchestras can be interesting too. not the quality of symphonic orchestras but they have a certain charme and put a lot of classical music into the public domain.

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I updated the list with the new playlists and some previews that were missing:

Previews:

Playlist

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Why not cut out the middlemen and go straight to the artists? If they’re willing to share their music for free, you’ll know without a doubt that the exchange didn’t screw them over. If not, then your payment goes right into their pockets rather than getting whittled down along the way.

Of course some may have contracts requiring you to go through a label, but that’s still closer to the source.

We have WAY too many middlemen across all industries, which is exactly why everything costs so much more than it should!!!

Edit: Of course, public domain is a different matter…but if the artist is still alive, it would probably still mean a lot to them to hear from the person who wants to use their music.

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When it comes to public domain music, there may be intermediaries involved—services that even charge a fee for hosting or curating the tracks. However, this is not the norm.

To clarify, I’m not an intermediary; I’m a DJ, and I believe I bring value to the tracks I play. That said, crediting the original creators is not optional—it’s a requirement. All the creators are properly credited in the description of each track, and anyone using these tracks should do the same.
I hope this helps.

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I’m really glad you enjoyed my mixes! Honestly, I had a blast creating and sharing them. It was all about having fun, and it’s great to hear that came through!

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I’d like to make one final comment to this community, which keeps hiding my posts warning of copyright. There have been several documented cases where the unauthorized use of copyrighted material resulted in thousands of dollars in fines. If you “simply use” something that “you think” is clear to use, you can pay quite dearly. Never “assume” that “it’s free.”

There are online sites which specifically provide music that is cleared for royalty-free public use. By the generous owners of that material. When you submit material that uses it, you will in due time be notified that the material has been scanned, identified as something that is clear, and you’re good to go. You know you are.

Very little material is actually “in the public domain.” Bach and Beethoven yes, Rachmaninoff no.

So: In a thread talking about “free music,” talk of copyright is entirely on-topic. I just talked about one type of source that is both free, and verifiably usable. But, do not assume.

And, if you write your own original music and use it, thereby “publishing” it, you should take the time to register (and, properly declare) your own copyright. Online. Cheap. Removes all doubt.

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Ah, yes, thanks for the reminder to always check credits and sources. So glad you took the time to actually read through them and didn’t just assume they’re unclear!

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I have been using Soundstripe for a few years now.

I think it checks off most of your boxes.

Tons of variety, easly licencing that can also work for stuff you do for clients. Each artist also has his own area.

I would not reccomend contacting the artist directly. Though you can. But that is another licencing issue. Would require getting a lawyer etc.

And the only way to have an advantage here is to have exclusive music that is expensive.

I noticed you specified free.

Yeah you can find free stuff there.

But for a relatively innexpensive yearly fee you can get a lot of great stuff. More expensive to subscribe directly to an artist.

One that I have used a lot. Easy to search and find. But like I said, unless I am going to hire him, there is no need.

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I hate to say it, but aggressively pursuing copyright violations is something we DESPERATELY needed (and still need) to crack down on the problem of illegal data skimming and AI training. Companies are too comfortable pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable.

But that’s companies. Individuals are often simply ignorant, and ought to at least be let off with a warning the first time, before real consequences come hurtling out of nowhere to destroy them. The amount of fine print associated with everything these days teaches people to just tune out license agreements. Not a good habit, but still pretty much the norm.

I’m not sure what you can do about any of that, but I just felt the urge to scream at the universe for a few minutes. :slight_smile:

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A discussion about copyright generally is not on topic here. The topic is:“where are good sources of free music?” Please refrain from unrelated side conversation, thanks :slight_smile:

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If you just want basic audio tracks then I use Pixabay, I’ve used them in loads of my projects for years.

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Hi everyone! I’ve updated the preview and playlist I shared above to make them more useful and easier to explore.

Instead of being organized primarily by individual musical genres, some playlists are now grouped into broader “super genres” that better reflect their overall purpose, mood, and vibe.

I’m also about to reach 500 mixes, covering a wide variety of genres and styles! :musical_notes:

I hope you enjoy the new organization and, of course, the mixes!

All mixes are free to use, including for commercial projects. If you end up using any of them, I’d love to hear about it!